Aftermaths
by Rb
Summary: Tai and the others have to deal with life after returning from the Digiworld.


This fic takes place after the final episode of the first season. Probably it clashes horribly with the second season, but oh well. I haven't seen it, so I can't be expected to stick with it. ::wink::  
  
**Update, 11/9/00** -- Hopefully got rid of all of the ugly HTML and made a couple slight changes, nothing big.

Aftermaths  
by Rb

Wow. We're back on Earth. Our adventures in the Digiworld are finally over.   
  
Mimi's still sobbing, and everyone looks a little teary-eyed about leaving our friends behind. Even me. I cried a bit while I left Agumon and the others. I'm not ashamed about it.  
  
It feels strange. A whole portion of our lives is suddenly over. The Digital gate is closed for good, Gennai said, and we can't go back.   
  
I have a feeling, deep inside of me, that if the Digital gate ever reopened, I'd soar through it like I had wings.  
  
Already I'm . . . homesick? Heartsick? I miss Agumon more than I would have thought possible, and I've only been gone for five minutes.  
  
Maybe it's because for once, it's definite. I _can't_ go back.   
  
"Are you okay, Tai?" Kari asks. I paste a smile on my face. It looks fake. It feels fake. It is fake. But I'm still the leader, no matter what. I still have to have the bold face on.   
  
"Yeah, I'm okay, Kari."   
  
The cable car we've ridden back from the Digiworld slows and then stops. The door opens. Everyone piles out in a rush, eager to see their families, except for Matt and me.  
  
"Hey, Matt?" I say.  
  
He looks at me. "Yeah, Tai?"  
  
"You . . . you fight really well." I smile, a real smile. "I'm sorry we fought so much back in the Digital world."  
  
He looks suprised, and gratified. "So . . . so am I."  
  
"Friends?" I hold out a hand.  
  
He grips it. "Friends."  
  
---  
  
We walk out the cable car, Matt first. I don't want to leave. I don't want to get off the last reminder of our journey.   
  
Standing on the last step, I survey the crowd. All of us digidestined are surrounded by our families. Sora is hugging her mom tightly. Mimi was glomped on by her wailing mother and proud, if stressed, father the moment she got off the cable car. Joe's older brother Jim is shaking Joe's hand. Izzy's mom is crying while his dad is patting Izzy on the back. T.K. and Kari are both being hugged by both sets of parents. Matt, like me, is surveying the crowd, watching intently. Watching everything.There's a lot of people around us, more than just our families.  
  
"Tai Kamiya!" someone shouts. Startled, I jump off the cable car and onto the ground -- and the cable car disappears behind me. The crowd goes silent in awe for a moment, although I can hear Izzy's reassuring -- well, supposedly reassuring -- words.  
  
"Don't worry, it's digital data that's being broken down and reconfigured to rebuild the digital world," he explains to his parents and those nearby. "Prodigious. Once we broke contact with the cable car, it must have returned to its digital state."  
  
"You came all the way from the digital world on some piece of digital data?" Izzy's dad asks.  
  
"That doesn't sound very safe," Izzy's mom mentions a bit timidly.   
  
"Mom, I spent weeks in the digital world, which is really a lot of digital data, unharmed. My best friend is a mass of bits and bytes of informations that managed to save my life on several occasions. I think traveling through worlds on a piece of digital data is perfectly safe."  
  
There's a longer silence as people start trying to look through the crowds to see the source of this quote. Several people are writing Izzy's words on notepads.  
  
I try to slither through the crowds towards my parents and leave, but the person who called out my name before finds me. It's a woman, in her late twenties or so, with a pencil behind her ear and an intent look on her face.  
  
"Tai Kamiya, you were the leader of the Digidestined children, is that right?" she questions.  
  
_Were._   
  
I feel trapped. _Were._ It's over. It's really over.  
  
"Yeah, that's right," I answer a bit faintly.  
  
Matt sees my face and walks next to me, on my right side. "Lady, should you be --"  
  
"And you're Matt Ishida!" she exclaims. The look in her eyes scares me, it's the look on the face of a hungry Kuwagamon finding easy prey.  
  
"You pronounced my last name wrong," Matt notes dryly.   
  
She brushed this aside. "You two had the strongest digimon, right? And you both had little siblings fighting along with you, no?" Her right hand jabs furiously at the notepad in her left hand. "Tai, what was it like knowing that one wrong move on your part could kill seven other people, including your own sister?"  
  
"What the . . . what kind of question is that?" Matt explodes. I don't answer.  
  
"Matt!" T.K. says, holding his mom's hand with one hand and grabbing Matt's arm with the other. "Where were you?"  
  
Kari runs up to me. "Tai, our parents are waiting! Let's go home!"  
  
"Let's go, Tai," Matt says, "we don't have to answer stupid questions like that."  
  
I haven't moved. I feel rooted to the spot.   
  
"Tai?" Sora -- where did she come from, how did she get next to me, on the opposite side of Matt? -- looks worried. Her mother is behind her, hanging back with Mimi's and Joe's and Izzy's families. The other three are pushing through the throbbing crowd, trying to get closer to the center. Me.  
  
But nothing is significant anymore. All I know is that I'm breathing hard and fast and the reporter looks worried. "Tai, are you okay? Has the stress from your battles caught up with you?"  
  
The sound is turned down, the babble of the crowds long gone. All of the Digidestined are with me, but I'm more alone than ever. Except for this stupid woman.  
  
"Do you really want to know what it's like?" I answer quietly. "Rip your heart out from your chest some time and squeeze. Then you'll know how I felt, every time I thought -- no, I had -- I screwed up and someone was hurting because of me, the leader. I was in charge. I was supposed to be in charge. Yeah, right." I snort. "At first, it was a game, it wasn't real. And then . . . we were really there, I realized, at about the time Sora got her crest. We would live or die with this world. I was stupid a lot of the time. I froze up, and I almost got everyone killed." My eyes bore straight into the reporter's. "And here you come, questioning me like I'm an animal on display, like I'm not a person who bled real blood, just so that you could survive. I sent my best friend into the most dangerous battles, asking him to do the most for me and the others so that people like you," my voice rises, "could live happy undisturbed lives and question me about it like it's no big deal." With a quick reflex, I grab the pad she'd been copying my words -- MY words! -- onto and rip it in two. "The Digidestined children don't do interviews. We know what's important, even if you forget."  
  
My head high but face grim, I start walking in the direction of my parents' car. Home. But not home. Where is home?  
  
_Where do I belong?_  
  
---  
  
"Hey, I hear you were one of the Digidestined," a girl says, walking up to me.  
  
Four weeks after coming back to Heighton View Terrace. School starts again. I'm in the same class as Sora and Matt, subtle manipulation by our parents who think it'll be best for us to be with our friends. Why am I stuck with a simpering girl that I don't know walking with me to class? "Yeah," I grunt.  
  
"Was it scary?" she asks, confiding in a lower whisper, "I saw pictures of those weird monsters that you guys had to fight. They look so..._icky_. I can't believe you could deal with them without getting freaked out."  
  
I stiffen. "My best friend's a digital monster."  
  
"Oh," she says in a tone of disappointment. Maybe she's disgusted with me. I can only hope. No such luck, as she continues, "I saw you guys get medals from the mayor. You looked totally cool on television. That girl, Sora, is she your girlfriend or something?"   
  
"Huh?"  
  
"I mean, are you dating her?"  
  
"Sora? No." Sora had been like an older sister to me as well as the rest of the Digidestined for the past four weeks, listening to us when we had to cry or talk or just couldn't cope with life in general. I feel bad about it, but what can I do? I'm not a leader when there's nothing concrete to battle, and Sora is supporting us all right now with her kind words. Does _Sora_ ever feel like she has to collapse? She never lets it on if she does.  
  
"Do you, ah, want a girlfriend?"  
  
"No," I say flatly. She's the fifth girl who had oh-so-subtly attached herself to me and pried into my personal life, hoping to get the status of dating a Digidestined. From what I heard from Matt, I wasn't alone. So many people were interested in us now, trying to become part of us, gain our status of saviors of the world. No one seems to care that our Digimon, the "icky-looking monsters," had worked just as hard as we had. No one seems to think about the work and hurt that had gone into our battles. No one seems to realize that we hadn't saved the world for recognition, we'd done it because it had to be done.  
  
"Really?" the girl pouts.  
  
"I'd rather kiss a Numemon then spend five more minutes in your company," I say truthfully.  
  
"You're so meaaan, Tai," she giggles. "Can I at least have your autograph? Sign it to Naomi, with love? My friends will all be so jealous."  
  
_So this is what Tai Kamiya, leader of the Digidestined, is reduced to_, I think. _Scribbling characters on paper to make little girls jealous._  
  
"No autographs, please," smirks a familiar voice. Matt! Sora is with him, frowning a little at the scene in front of her.  
  
Naomi wrinkles her nose at Sora. "Can't you pick ONE and stay with him?" she whines, and hypocritically flashes a wide smile at both Matt and myself before she -- finally! -- leaves.  
  
Sora snorts a bit. "I swear, every girl in this school thinks I'm secretly going out with you two, Izzy, Joe, and possibly T.K. for all I know, and hates me for it."   
  
I pat Sora on the shoulder. "Next time we decide to get together a group of Digidestined, we'll make sure to include more girls."  
  
Matt raises an eyebrow. Sora smiles.   
  
"Let's go," I say. School is a lot easier, I think, if I treat it as a battle with a Dark Master that I have to use my courage to win. I instinctively touch the place where my tag and crest should be, but realize that they'd be redundant by now. I have all the courage I need inside of me.  
  
If only I could figure out how to make myself glow.  
  
---  
  
"Where should we sit?" Sora asks, surveying the empty classroom. We wanted to get to class early, to pick our seats.   
  
"Front."  
  
"Back."  
  
Matt and I speak at the same time, which makes Sora laugh and leaves us glaring at each other.  
  
"In the front of the classroom, we won't have to see people staring at us, and we can concentrate on schoolwork," Matt argues.  
  
"But in the back, they can't stare at us, or else the teacher will yell at them. Plus, with my hair," I indicate the mass of brown hair that seems to be genetically programmed to be messy, "do you think that if I sat in front, anyone could see over it?"  
  
Matt finally cracks a grin. "Good point. We'll sit in back."  
  
Sora takes a seat next to the window. I sit next to her, and Matt sits on my other side. I have a flash of deja vu but ignore it as the other kids file in, whispering and pointing at the three of us. I ignore them. I'm getting good at ignoring people. Some days, I don't see or hear a thing except for what's in my own memory.  
  
"Class, settle down," the teacher says as she breezes in and sits at her desk. "I hope everyone knows that there are three very special students in our class. These three were part of the Eight Children who saved the world using awesome powers."  
  
_Close, but not close enough_, I think silently.   
  
"Matt Ishida? Tai Kamiya? Sora Takenouchi? Won't you please stand up and tell the class about your adventures?"  
  
As if by mutual agreement, all three of us stay in our seats. Most of the kids know about who we are already, and are looking uneasily over their shoulders at the three of us. The teacher notices this and frowns.  
  
"Eyes front, class. Ishida? Kamiya? Takenouchi? They must be absent. Anyway. I am Ms. Kinomoto, and I hope you will have a good time in my class this year. Roll call. Aborutou, Kenji?"  
  
It continues until "Ishida, Matt?"  
  
"Here," Matt calls. Everyone turns around and stared, including Kinomoto.  
  
"Why didn't you rise when I asked you to, before?"  
  
"With all due respect, ma'am, I didn't find it necessary."  
  
As the teacher's eyebrow raises, she looks for the first time directly at him. I stand up. "I'm Tai Kamiya."  
  
Sora rises, too. "My name is Sora Takenouchi, nice to meet you."  
  
"Why didn't any of you rise before? And Kamiya, Takenouchi, you haven't been called on!"  
  
"We didn't want to," I say loudly. Sora and Matt nod, supporting me.  
  
Kinomoto's eyebrow twitches. "Disrespect for a teacher? Kamiya! Takenouchi! Ishida! Principal's office, now!"  
  
"But I didn't--!" Matt yelps.  
  
"Go!" she roars, and the three of us walk out of the classroom, every eye upon us.  
  
---  
  
"Well, Matt, I guess people still look at us even if we are in the back," I say mildly as we walk down the halls. "I'm sorry."  
  
"What are we doing?" he asks, ignoring me.   
  
"We don't know," Sora answers for all of us.  
  
"Then why are we acting like idiots? We're smart, we've done more in seconds Earth time then Kinomoto's accomplished in her entire lifetime. Why...why can't I think straight? If only..." he gulps. "If only Gabumon was here."  
  
"Yeah, if Agumon was here he'd pepper breath every single gawking student. If I asked him to," I recall.  
  
"And I could think, clearly, about what's happening. I would be able to respect myself more," Matt says.  
  
"And I could laugh at the dumb jokes, and have someone to support me," I say. My teeth clench against tears that have threatened to fall since my first day back.  
  
"But Agumon and Gabumon, and Biyomon, aren't here," Sora reminds us.  
  
"You can't stop us wishing," I shoot back.  
  
"But we have...we have to deal."  
  
"How?" Matt asks.  
  
Sora winces. "I don't know how." She looks at the hallway. All of the doors are closed and no one's walking around but us, but she still lowers her voice. "I'm not immune. I miss Biyomon just as much as you miss your Digimon. And I miss living in the digital world, despite the dangers, knowing that there was a purpose, a job to be done. And I do hate how everyone in this world doesn't seem to appreciate the depth of what we've done. But...I don't want you guys to be hurting any more than what you already feel. And I want everyone to be okay. So I don't let on what I feel, except to my mom. And that makes us closer, because she understands what we went through. And she knew Biyomon, too, so..." Tears start to leak from her eyes, but she does nothing about them. "We've got to be strong...so that the world can respect who we are."  
  
Matt awkwardly wipes away most of her tears. "It's okay, Sora. I'm sorry. I've been straining you with my complaints, haven't I? I feel so bad. I'm sorry."  
  
"No, Matt! It's not that I want you guys to confide in me less..." Sora trails off, unable to find words for what she wants to say.   
  
"Sora, I promise I'll be stronger and braver," I say, "about what's been happening. We're all confused...I need to be stronger. If only..."  
  
"...half of our hearts weren't in the Digiworld," Sora, Matt, and I all say in unison.  
  
My chest feels like it's on fire, as if something was burning, deep inside my heart. From Sora's and Matt's expressions, they feel the same thing happening to them. On each of our chests, a symbol appears like it did once before, during the final battle. On Sora's, the Crest of Love appears. On Matt's, the Crest of Friendship. And on mine, the Crest of Courage.  
  
But it doesn't stop with just the glowing, like it did before, after our crests were destroyed. Around the glowing crests, tags appear, floating in mid-air. I feel for my Digivice, stuck in my pocket, and it's beeping like crazy. There's awe on all of our faces as the tags are fully formed. I reach out and grab my tag and crest, and put it around my neck, where it belongs. Matt and Sora repeat my action.  
  
"How did...how did that happen?" Matt asks.  
  
Sora and I shrug in confusion.  
  
"We'd better get to the principal's office," Sora notes. "We're going to be in trouble if we wait much longer."  
  
"Race ya," I grin.   
  
We race. Matt wins. He does have the longest legs, anyway. I'm glad no teachers saw us running in the halls.  
  
---  
  
The principal nods understanding to our breathless explanation. I have a feeling that out parents talked to him, explaining our 'delicate situation.' I would get mad, but it's not worth it. He is trying to look out for our best interests, after all.  
  
By the time we got out of the principal's office, it was time for a class change. I spot Izzy walking down the hall, looking strange without his computer strapped to his back. I trot over to him.  
  
"Come to the library an hour after school ends," I whisper. "It's important. Tell Mimi, too."   
  
He nods, surprised that I'm being a leader again. I'm not sure how to interpret that. "I will, Tai. I have something to tell you guys, too."  
  
The rest of the day passes in a blur. I ignore the covert looks, and the not that subtle remarks, as I concentrate on the crest. What does it mean? Is it a sign? Will we be able to get back to the Digiworld?  
  
After school, I walk home alone, considering. After I get to my family's apartment, I find that Kari is already home, watching television. Out of all of us kids, Kari and T.K. have been the least affected by being closed off for eternity from the digital world. I'm surprised.  
  
"Kari, there's going a meeting in the library today," I tell her.  
  
"Okay," she says. "Is anything wrong?" she asks after a moment, cautiously.  
  
"For the first time in the last four weeks, something may be good," I smile.  
  
She smiles too, a beam of light in darkness.   
  
I call Joe and tell him about the meeting. He half-heartedly complains but promises to be there. "Old reliable me," he jokes, "of course I'll be there."  
  
---  
  
An hour later, we're all there. Joe and Mimi arrive last.  
  
"Oh, wow, have I got something to tell you guys!" Joe says, looking a bit mussed. Mimi seems oddly subdued, but nods quietly.  
  
"Tai first," Izzy says. "I have something to say, too, but Tai should go first." He had been spending the last five minutes finding an outlet to plug his laptop into.   
  
I shoot a glance at Sora and Matt. They nod, allowing me to speak. "I was talking to Sora and Matt today...actually, we got kicked out of class." Everyone's eyes widen. "It wasn't our fault, we had a stupid teacher."  
  
"Actually, it _was_ your fault I got kicked out of class," Matt mutters. "I was innocent but got associated with you two."   
  
"Anyway, we were talking in the hallway and...in our hearts..there was this feeling..." I can't figure out what to say, so I motion for Sora to take over.   
  
"The symbols for our crests glowed on our chests, and then our crests and tags reformed, floating in the air." She pulls out her Crest of Love to prove her story, and Matt and I follow suit.  
  
Izzy, amazingly, pulls out his own tag and Crest of Knowledge. "Last night, I was searching for a connection to the Digiworld, like I do every night." He smiles a bit sheepishly. "I felt...something. And my crest and tag formed, just like Sora mentioned."  
  
Joe grins a bit wildly. "While Mimi was crossing the street, a car started driving straight at her. I ran and pushed her out of the way, scattering my books everywhere." The look of exhultation fades. "They were library books. I'll have to pay for them now. Anyway, I scraped my knee badly, and there was a lot of blood. I thought I might faint, but my crest and tags formed and glowed and healed me!" He holds up his tag and Crest of Reliability. Mimi nods again.  
  
T.K. and Kari look at each other, and simultaneously hold up the Crest of Hope and the Crest of Light.   
  
"When did you get those?" Sora asks, surprised.  
  
"A couple days after we came back, Kari came over to my mom's apartment to play. We were pretty quiet, thinking about our digimon, and both of us mentioned we promised our digimon we'd see them again," T.K. says.  
  
"Our crests and tags just sort of sprang into existance," Kari adds shyly.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me?" Matt and I say at the same time.  
  
"Well, you were so depressed back then," T.K. mutters, "you didn't seem to want to talk."  
  
"I didn't know what you'd say," Kari says meekly.   
  
"Prodigious," Izzy computes. "You both had such faith in the fact that you would see Patamon and Gatomon again, it took you a lot less time to form your crests then it did for everyone else, because no one else had such belief in themselves or in seeing their digimon again. Everyone else said goodbye for good, except for you two."  
  
There is a pause while everyone digests Izzy's words. I realize that I had said 'goodbye for good' to Agumon and that I'd had no hope that we'd ever see our digimon friends again. That was stupid of me. I should have had more faith in Agumon. I feel a little strange. I've always been the leader, always had Agumon digivolve first and farthest. Yet my little sister got her crest and tags back before me...! I have a lot to learn from my little sister, I decide.  
  
After a moment or two, everyone looks expectantly at Mimi. "What?" she snaps.   
  
"Mimi...do you...?" Sora ventures timidly.  
  
I look closely at Mimi. I can't see the chain of a tag around her neck.  
  
She grits her teeth. "No."  
  
No one says anything. Izzy, his laptop now in hand, taps furiously at it for a minute, then frowns. "Mimi..."  
  
"What?" Izzy stays quiet. Mimi gets angry. "I know what you're all thinking, Mimi's not sincere enough to want her crest back, Mimi doesn't really want to see Palmon again, Mimi's too happy to have a good life with her clothes and soft bed and plenty of food to want to have anything to do with her best friend in the entire world..."  
  
Everyone's eyes are wide, and I see one or two guilty flushes as Mimi's words hit home. "Mimi, that's not what I -- " Izzy starts.  
  
"I may be a ditz," Mimi rants, "but I still would give anything to talk to Palmon again! It broke my heart to have to leave her behind and never talk to her again! Even if I had to wear one outfit for the rest of my life and never have enough food or a nice place to sleep again! But I would like to skip the not having enough baths part," she confides in a moment of true sincerity, "we got really disgusting after a while."  
  
"Mimi..." Sora says quietly. "We all know you feel that way. We all feel the same way."  
  
"But it's not fair!" Mimi bursts out. "It's just not FAIR!" A single tear rolls out of her eye, down her cheek, and onto her chest. At the exact spot that the tear hit, a tear-shaped crest, the Crest of Sincerity, started glowing. In front of our amazed eyes, Mimi's crest and tag finally grew.  
  
"Oh, wow," she whispers. Sora gives her a hug.   
  
"Prodigious," Izzy says in satisfaction. "You see, the reason my Crest of Knowledge regrew was because I finally found a way to contact Gennai."  
  
Everyone stares at Izzy. "You _WHAT_?"  
  
"I sent him an e-mail, explaining what had happened to my crest and everything else that has happened in the last two days. He sent me back an e-mail saying that three of the crests, including mine, had been reborn, and the rest would be reborn shortly." He looks sheepishly at me. "I thought they were Tai's and Matt's. Anyway, when they did, I was to open this file. But I can't before, because I need all eight crests inserted here," he points to a slot on his computer, "for it to open."  
  
"Let's open it up!" I say, carefully taking off my crest and tag, noting with satisfaction that everyone follows my lead. 'Where do I stick it in, Izzy?"  
  
"Here -- don't jam it!" he exclaims, but I am careful. After me, Matt, Sora, then Izzy, Mimi, Joe, T.K., and finally Kari all insert their own crests. Our crests all glow as Izzy opens the file.  
  
Gennai's face appears on the computer screen. "Welcome, digidestined! It's been a long time since you've seen my face, which is okay, because it's been even longer since I've seen my own! If you're reading this, you obviously all have your crests at last. Because of this, you will be able to do something that's been thought impossible."  
  
"Will we be able to visit the Digital world again?" I ask excitedly. _See Agumon and the other again? All right!_  
  
"You probably are thinking 'will you be able to visit the digital world again?' I'm sorry, digidestined children. The answer is still no."  
  
We slump down dejectedly.   
  
"However, you will be able to see your digimon friends again," Gennai continues.  
  
"YES!" I cheer.  
  
"Are they coming to our world again?"  
  
"We'd better keep Gabumon out of the ice cream, Matt!"  
  
"We should tell our parents, they won't get so worried this time then."  
  
"What about our other friends, how will they react?"   
  
"Could we bring them to school?"  
  
"That would be a good way to pay back Kinomoto!"  
  
"Maybe I could take Agumon with me, so he could do my homework!" I muse.   
  
Izzy turns around and gives us all long looks. "You do realize that Gennai's message is prerecorded, and that he can't actually hear our comments?" He breathes a long, drawn-out sigh. "I paused it, so you guys could talk!"  
  
We glare at him. "Play the message!" we yell as one.  
  
"While beings can't travel from one world to another, a design defect of the Digiworld that I'm working on solving, we can send information between the two worlds, like this e-mail. If you insert your crest into the B drive on a computer, and concentrate really hard, your digimon will be able to communicate with you through the computer. However, you will only be able to see and hear your digimon, not touch, smell, or taste them."  
  
"Who would want to taste a digimon?" Kari asks. Izzy irritably pauses Gennai's e-mail again.  
  
Sora grins. "I don't know, but Joe does have a fish digimon..."  
  
"You're not eating Gomamon," Joe retorts defiantly.  
  
"I am getting rather hungry," T.K. mentions.  
  
"Want some sushi, little bro?"  
  
"I wonder what Gomamon teriyaki would taste like," Mimi says.  
  
Joe looks as if he's about to pass out, and Izzy's eyebrow is twitching mercilessly, so I say loudly "let's hear the rest."  
  
"Another problem is that you can only talk for five minutes at a time, preferably spaced well apart, or else your computer will crash because of the power overload. I wouldn't use this communication more than about twice a week, less if possible. Well, my own computer's at the end of its power supply, I've got to remember to pay those bills!" The message turns to fuzzy black and white.  
  
All of us started edging towards Izzy's laptop. Izzy, alarm bells ringing in his mind, jumps up in front of it. "Guys...uh...only one person can use a computer at a time, and they have to be well-spaced out."  
  
"We have a computer at home," I tell Kari, "and you can talk to Gatomon first."   
  
She nods. "Okay."  
  
"I have a computer at home, too," Mimi mentions, "I'll use that."  
  
"So do I," Joe says solemnly.  
  
"Mom has a computer, right?" Matt asks T.K.  
  
"Yeah," T.K. says, "I'll talk to Patamon on that."  
  
"And I'll use Dad's computer to talk to Gabumon. He won't mind."  
  
Sora bites her lip. "Izzy, I'm really sorry, but we don't have a computer at my house. Could I please use yours?"  
  
Izzy's eyes widen. "You don't have a computer at your house? How do you live?" Remembering his manners, he adds, "sure, Sora."  
  
All of us start to leave, eager to get home and use our computers to communicate with our best friends. But as I was leaving, I could hear Sora's trembling voice say "Hello? Hello? Biyomon?" and her bursting into tears.  
  
---  
  
"You can stay while I talk to Gatomon," Kari smiles, "I don't mind."  
  
"Okay," I say, and step back a little. Kari takes off her crest and inserts it into the computer. I can see her mouth form the word "Gatomon" as she concentrates.  
  
The monitor fuzzes, and then clears to reveal Gatomon's face, blue eyes wide. "Kari? How'd you get here?"  
  
"I'm not really here," Kari says. "I'm talking to you through my computer. Gennai told me how."  
  
"Kari!" Gatomon's eyes fill up with tears. "I know you said we'd see each other again, but I didn't think it was possible..."  
  
"It's okay, Gatomon, I always keep my promises."  
  
Quietly, I leave the room. Five minutes later, Kari rejoins me.  
  
"Where'd you go?" Kari asks.  
  
"I didn't...I felt like I was intruding," I explain.  
  
"Oh." Kari is silent for a moment. "All of our digimon are sticking together in a group. They don't want to leave each other."  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"Yeah. Gatomon says it's not as much fun without us there. Everyone there has been sort of down."  
  
"Do you feel like...like you left your half of your heart behind, when you left the digital world?" I ask my little sister curiously.  
  
"Hmm." She thinks for a moment. "Nope."  
  
"How come you didn't, but Sora and Matt and everyone else and I felt like that?"  
  
"Maybe that's because I knew I'd see Gatomon again. You weren't sure." I can see Kari's Crest of Light glow. "I knew."  
  
"Maybe... yeah," I nod. "You're right. I wasn't sure."  
  
Kari giggles. "It's okay, Tai. I don't know how long you'll have to wait to make your call, but Gatomon says that Agumon really misses you, so I really wouldn't wait that long." She gives me a quick hug.   
  
I continue sitting, thinking.  
  
---  
  
I finally sit down at the computer at three o'clock in the morning. I can't sleep at all, but I don't know what to say to Agumon at all. I miss him, but I don't know what to say to him. I'm in my pajamas, but I still have to talk. I have to!  
  
I boot up the computer. Slowly, I pull the crest of courage off and insert it into the right slot. _Agumon,_ I say mentally, picturing the small orange dinosaur look-alike with brilliant green eyes. I can hear his voice in my head.   
  
The screen goes fuzzy, before clearing to see Agumon blinking furiously. "What...Tai?!" I hear his voice, and suddenly tears I had been keeping back by sheer will flow down my cheeks. I wipe them aside.  
  
"Hiya, buddy!" My voice cracks a bit, but I smile, genuinely pleased to see my best friend. "Sorry I didn't call earlier, I wasn't sure how long I should wait after Kari's call."  
  
"I thought..." His voice, too, cracks, but he goes on. "I thought you didn't want to talk to me anymore, because everyone else...talked to their friends, and I didn't...get a call from you, and I thought..."  
  
"Agumon, how could I ever not want to talk with you? You're my best friend in the whole world, I could never ignore you."  
  
"Well, you sure did a good impression of it."  
  
"I _said _I was sorry!"  
  
We both laugh.  
  
"So, how are you and the rest of the digimon?" I ask.  
  
"We're all fine, Tai. I think the real question is, how are you?"  
  
"Eh?"  
  
"Gabumon and Biyomon said that Matt and Sora said you seemed really down. I'm worried, Tai. Please tell me what's the matter."  
  
I take in a deep breath, and spill to Agumon all of the pain and anger I've been feeling for the last few weeks, ending with "I know I shouldn't complain, I know that I sound like a baby saying this. But... no one understands except for you and the other digidestined, and I can't keep putting my troubles onto them, especially Sora. They all have too many problems already."  
  
"You're wrong," Agumon says. "You shouldn't keep all your problems bottled up. You should talk to people, and let them talk to you. That way the problems get smaller and the trust grows."  
  
"You're so smart, Agumon," I sigh. "But there's only about a minute left! My problems seem small now, but when I stop talking to you, the problems will get bigger again!"  
  
"Tai, you will always be in my thoughts. I will always support you, whether you can realize it or not. Your faith in me and your courage were what made me strong. Now it's time for you to be strong, too. My faith in you will become courage for you to live."  
  
"Thank you, Agumon," I say, and smile. "I'll call you next week, okay?"   
  
"Yes, but please don't call in the middle of the night! I need my beauty sleep!"   
  
I laugh. "I'll see you soon!"  
  
"See ya!" Agumon says. I stop the communication and return my crest to around my neck.  
  
---  
  
I lie down on my bed. Agumon is right. His faith in my gives me courage to deal with a. I look down at my crest, and find that it is glowing, a small orange light in the darkness of my room.   
  
Tomorrow I'll be stronger. Tomorrow I'll be happier. Tomorrow I'll be a better person, stopping with my funk of depression. I'll stop with dealing with the aftermaths, and forge a new beginning for me and the others. 


End file.
